Forest of Thought
Episodes
36. Thinking with plants – on Hildegard of Bingen’s ecological theology // MICHAEL MARDER
09 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What can we learn from plants? In Western thinking, plants have usually been seen as the most lowly beings, fixed in one place and without capacity f...
35. Walking for peace and learning with head, heart & hands // SATISH KUMAR
25 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In 1962 , a young man named Satish Kumar set out with his friend Prabakhar Menon on a pilgrimage for peace that would take him around the world, forev...
34. The subtle art of listening // KERI FACER
11 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As we are faced with multiplying crises, we often rush into trying to fix the world through words and busy action. What if an adequate response is to ...
33. “Our crisis is an aesthetic crisis” – on art, education and ecology // JAN VAN BOECKEL
28 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What could art making and aesthetics mean to us in these difficult times? Can we justify going off to paint or to spend time in nature when there is s...
32. God as the poet of the world – on Whitehead's process philosophy // MATTHEW DAVID SEGALL
14 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
I was born into a world where many of the things that are most important to me, like art, beauty, relationships, embodied experience, love, and the sa...
31. On building community – across the divides and beyond the doom // ASHLEY FITZGERALD
30 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Is it possible to look clear-eyed at the enormous challenges we’re facing today, and still do something practical and creative in the face of that? ...
30. Survival of the beautiful // DAVID ROTHENBERG
16 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Why is there so much beauty in the natural world? What can we learn from jamming with the more-than-human? Join interspecies musician David Rothenberg...
29. Patterns of Meaning // JEREMY LENT
02 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What are the underlying patterns of thought that have led our civilization into its current crises? And how might we begin to tell a different story, ...
28. LIVE: Becoming human - the search for soul in turbulent times // MIKAEL KURKIALA
11 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Many cultures maintain that we are not born human but that we may become fully human through cultivation and care. Could it be that our destructive te...
27. LIVE: Living an embodied life and crafting the Way // CAROLINE ROSS
21 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Caroline Ross has spent decades being immersed in Daoism, art, crafting and foraging (and spent 10 years touring with her rock band). Today, her pract...
26. LIVE: Cultivating the human in an era of intelligent machines // JEREMY NAYDLER
28 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Forest of Thought episodes are back! And over the next few weeks I’ll be sharing three public conversations that were recorded 2023-2024 as part of ...
25. On language, landscapes and mending the world // SARAH THOMAS
29 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode I speak to writer and filmmaker Sarah Thomas. Her memoir, The Raven’s Nest, is a meditation on her time spent in Iceland, and explor...
24. In the shadow of the machine // JEREMY NAYDLER
30 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How are our modern ways of thinking and being different from those of ancient peoples? When did logic and rational thinking become ‘common sense’,...
23. From What is to What if? // ROB HOPKINS
28 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s been said that it’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism and our modern way of life. Why is it so hard for us to...
22. The power of voice // BRIONY GREENHILL
07 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How might the use of voice and song be an unexpectedly powerful way to access our deeper selves? In this episode I speak to Briony Greenhill, an incre...
21. The internet is not what you think it is // JUSTIN E. H. SMITH
16 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In what ways might the roots of the internet actually stretch back much further than we think? Does the internet enhance or distort our humanness? How...
20. Entangling art, activism & ritual // ISA FREMEAUX
24 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How do we manifest the world we would like to see? How are art and activism connected to things like magic and ritual? How does being rooted in a plac...
19. The meaning of crisis // SEASON FINALE WITH HOST INGRID M. RIESER
10 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
"Crisis" was a topic that came up many times in this season of the podcast, in discussions on everything from pandemics, to climate change, to spiritu...
18. Addiction, recovery and the death of Davos // FELIX MARQUARDT
28 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Felix Marquardt used to enjoy a jet-setting lifestyle, advising CEOs and heads of state, and mingling at elite gatherings like the World Economic Foru...
17. What do men long for? // VIDAR VETTERFALK
16 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Might harmful norms around masculinity be at the root of both men’s violence against women and the degradation of nature? In this episode we look mo...
16. LIVE: Does it still make sense to talk about climate change? // DOUGALD HINE
07 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Does it still make sense to talk about climate change? This seems a strange question to ask, for someone who has spent much of his adult life talking ...
15. How our bodies can resolve trauma // GUNILLA HAMNE
01 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What is trauma? When we experience suffering or hardship we often feel this as a physical sensation in our bodies – we are “heartbroken” or have...
14. Covid, climate and emergency politics // MIKE HULME
30 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What can the covid pandemic teach us about handling the climate crisis? We’ve seen that governments have not hesitated to take bold action when face...
13. The architect and the garden // PETER LYNCH
18 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What is the true task of the architect? In this episode we talk to Peter Lynch about what the role of architecture really is. Can we create spaces tha...
12. On fermentation and cultural activism // EVA BAKKESLETT
18 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Words like culture and aesthetics make us think of grand museums and concert halls. But what if there is a deeper meaning to these words that we’ve ...
11. Imaginations of Control // ANDY STIRLING
23 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When our societies are faced with challenges we often call on science to provide us with the best course of action; we strive to make evidence-based d...
10. The stories we tell // SEASON FINALE WITH HOST INGRID M. RIESER
07 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Goodbye 2020, hello 2021. How do we start to make sense of one of the most turbulent, transformative and chaotic years in recent history? We’re alwa...
9. Until we all are free // CRYSTAL VANCE GUERRA & VICTOR MENOTTI
04 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The US has been through several extremely turbulent months, and we’ve been yearning for deeper and more genuine conversations on these developments....
8. The conversational arts // PERNILLA GLASER
06 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What are really good conversations made of? And how is a dialogue similar to a work of art? In this episode I speak to facilitator, theatre director a...
7. Tree teachings // PER INGVAR HAUKELAND
16 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
It’s always hard to talk about our connection to "nature" because the wording already implies that nature is something other than ourselves. In this...
6. The map and the territory // ULF DANIELSSON
25 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A wide-ranging conversation with astrophysicist Prof. Ulf Danielsson on how we understand this universe and why we keep confusing our maps with the te...
5. An ecology of ideas // PER JOHANSSON
04 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What is this this mysterious thing we call “an idea”? What is its nature and power? We posed these questions to human ecologist and historian of i...
4. A world of many worlds // DOUGALD HINE
25 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The big story of never-ending Progress has captured our imaginations for hundreds of years. But now we seem to be witnessing its unravelling. The sear...
3. Playing with time // KERI FACER
03 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
“The Future." We say the words all the time, but what do we really mean? How do our stories about yesterday and today help shape tomorrow? Could a d...
2. The Great Unveiling // PELLA THIEL
12 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What is the corona crisis revealing to us – about our societies and about ourselves? Join us in conversation with activist and ecologist Pella Thiel...
1. A very convincing game // TIMOTHÉE PARRIQUE
17 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to the new podcast, Forest of Thought! We hope to have conversations that explore the ideas we live by – re-examining the familiar and catch...